Political flier flap in Trumbull

MariAn Gail Brown

Updated 8:45 pm, Monday, September 23, 2013

TRUMBULL -- Two Democrats seeking a berth on the Board of Education distributed political fliers that either did not identify their respective campaign treasurers or identify who paid for the election literature, as required by state law.

"Am I going to file a complaint about it?" he said. "No. We're all human and we (Republicans) have made mistakes, too."

"What I do think is that this shows that the Democratic Party is disjointed, unorganized getting out of the gate," he said. "And that's left a void with individual candidates left to fend for themselves and put out their own campaign literature, with not much help from the party."

Seven candidates are running to fill four vacancies on the Trumbull Board of Education in the November election.

Over the weekend, Democrats Tom Tesoro, a former labor attorney who is vice present of human resources at Standard Motor Products, and Laine McHugh, a physical therapy, went door-to-door introducing themselves to voters, and distributing their campaign fliers, which contain their candidate biographies.

State election law requires that candidates' printed material provide a disclaimer that identifies who paid for the material, the identity of the candidate who approved it and the name of the campaign treasurer, if the candidate is on a party's slate.

Both Tesoro and McHugh are part of the Democratic Town Committee's slate of candidates. McHugh's campaign literature does not identify who paid for her fliers or provide any disclaimer whatsoever.

"I paid for my fliers, not the party," McHugh said. "No one told me that there had to be a disclaimer on it," she said, adding that "in my opinion, I'm running for a seat on the Board of Education, which should be nonpartisan."

Tesoro credited Testani with having a fair and reasonable reaction to the violation.

"Six weeks is definitely enough time for us to get out and get known among the electorate," Tesoro said.

Democrats will be holding a workshop for candidates in the coming days on what they need to know to wage an effective campaign that complies with state election laws, he said. They also will release a brochure naming the party's full slate of candidates.

"As a party, we're a bit like starting a Porsche on a cold day," Tesoro said. "At first, it takes a little time to turn over the engine and get going. But once we do, we roar."